Prosthetic Leg

[Ernie Mccracken]

Which ceramic coating do you think he uses for his prosthesis? I'm betting Wolfgang Uber Ceramic.

[Mike Phillips]

How did Mike Phillips lose his leg? I have seen pictures on the site with a prosthetic. Hopefully I'm not getting to personal by asking this. Mike if your reading this my heart goes out to you buddy.

I never mind if someone asks me about my artificial leg.

Jesus man, try to show a little couth.

It's cool, I don't mind, if fact if someone is curious I'd rather have them ask...

I'm sure Mike wouldn't mind telling someone, or talking about it. It's nothing feel ashamed of or hide, and he does neither.

It happened in 1986 when I was 26 so that's 30 years ago and most of the time I wear shorts instead of paints and over the years I have had a lot of people walk right up to me and ask me about my artificial leg. So I'm pretty much used to it and it didn't bother me back in 1986 and it doesn't bother me today.

I don't think he was being uncouth; I read it as someone who was curious.

Yep... just curious is how I read it.


In the summer of 1986 I was having too much fun. I owned 9 cars, one motorcycle, (Yamaha Seca 750) and my 1970 Sanger Flat bottom V-drive Drag Boat. Long story short, I was thrown out over the front of the boat and then the boat went right over the top of me.

It didn't cut my leg off but the prop cut it up so bad they doctor couldn't save it so they amputated my leg at the knee which was a mistake. Luckily I got a bacteria infection and then had to go back and cut off another 2 inches and it was this mistake that actually benefited me in a way that I can walk really well using an artificial leg.

It's early Sunday morning as I type this and I have a busy day today working to put the engine back into my monster truck. This 1987 Silverado with me and Wayne Carini standing in front of it.

The frame cracked and so I had to remove the engine so my buddy, Robbie DiTralizzi could get in to the engine compartment and weld up the frame and fortify it.






Me last weekend...





Crack in the frame (note how clean the frame is? that didn't happen by itself, see the brush in my hand in the picture above)






Suffice to say, it's a lot of work removing the engine out of this truck and as it goes back together it's also a lot of cleaning, polishing and painting.



I owned the Sanger Drag boat for 20 years. That's longer than most people I know that own any type of boat. I regret selling it.

The original owner and builder of the boat Rick Baker, clocked 122 miles per hour in 9 seconds and that is flat out getting it on - on the water.

I couldn't afford to purchase both the boat and his engine so I purchased the boat and had a big block Chevy engine built from scratches. I remember every dollar I made went into to paying for the engine and it took me a couple of years to pay for it.

When I raced it the fastest time I ran was 111 miles per hour in 11 seconds in the quarter and that's still flat out getting it on.

From a rolling start (and that's how you race the 1/4 mile in this type of boat), it takes about 4 seconds to get up to 100 miles per hour with an 18 tooth gear V-drive and a 11" x 17" pitch 2-blade racing prop. After that's its must a matter of feathering the down pedal to keep the boat from flipping over as you fly over the water.


Here's a picture of me racing in back in around 1983 on Dexter Reservoir just outside of Eugene, Oregon.





Here's what it looked like the year I sold it...



I had custom high back seats made for it and mounted a stereo to the passenger side head of the engine. If you look behind the Indy Scoop you can see a "76 Ball" sitting on top of the antennae.

Here you can see the radio mounted to the engine



The reason the radio is mounted to the engine is because all the years I owned the boat I NEVER drilled any holes anywhere in the hull. When you take a boat like this over 100 miles per hour every time you take it out you put the hull through a LOT of stress and I was lucky that the hull had zero stress cracks and I wasn't ever going to give it reason to have one.


Couple more pics of the boat...



I had the high back bucket seats custom built as I though it gave the boat a real nice look with the tall Indy Scoop...










Here's a shot of the driver's cockpit, there were the up and down pedals plus the gas pedal. Everything was polished whether it was gel-coat or aluminum. That's a 1969 Blazer CST in the background, that was a great boat puller too...




The reason for the dual Tachs was because the one in the tach holder never
worked from the day I installed it but because I "assumed" a brand new tach
would work just fine I used clear silicone to stick it into the aluminum tach
holder and to finally get it out I had to beat it out with a punch and a hammer.
Before I removed it though I simply attached a plain-Jane tach that actually
worked great and worked for years...





I rand dual 660's and the carb linkage was reground to make the carb progressive
so all 8 barrels didn't dump all at once. Before I re-ground the linkage if it
backfired it would throw a flame ball out the scoop about 3 feet... right past
your head as you were sitting in the boat. That was always
exciting...




If
you look carefully, you can see I'm pulling the boat with the first 1959
Cadillac I ever bought. This too was a great boat puller and a blast to drive
with the top off. Of the the left was my buddy Eric's 1976 Sanger Bubble Deck
Runner Bottom, I loved his boat and if I could ever get another Drag boat I
would want a Sanger Runner Bottom V-Drive Bubble Deck...









Yep... even though my own boat took my leg I should have never sold the boat... it was way too much fun....


Live is busy... but life is good.... thanks for asking...

[idriveblackcars]

Good stuff! And I totally will admit I don't have the brass ones to get on a boat and go that fast. Even watching those boat races scare the deal out of me.

[Eldorado2k]

Thanks for sharing, Mike. Thumbs up!

[idriveblackcars]

Jesus man, try to show a little couth. Having a prosthetic clearly hasn't hampered Mike Phillips from being a better detailer and 10x more successful than the rest of us combined.

Actually I find your post more awkward than the ops.

[cyclops]

Thanks for sharing the pics of your boat. Don't fret over selling her, we all have one (or 2 or 3) that got away.

[DARK HORSE]

Wow Mike, you are definitely a stud!! Very enjoyable post/read about your boat and 59 Cady, way, way too cool!!

[natewood70]

Mike - as always thank you for your time to share a personal story.

Good luck getting your Chevy taken care of, I'm sure you're ready to get it back on the road!

[VISITOR]

mike, thanks for sharing your story. hope both your son and daughter are doing well...

[Riff]

https://youtu.be/i717PCn1vDk

Hey Mike! Is this your YouTube page? It sounds like you.

I've been waiting to see an update.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline